Road to the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup – Historical overview (1-3)

The 24th Arabian Gulf Cup in Doha is coming up soon. A few days are separating us from the Gulf matches, which used to bring the people of the Gulf to a fair competition under the umbrella of the saying “our Gulf is one and our people are one”.

Gulf 1 – The idea sees the light

The idea, which was discussed in the GCC at the end of the sixties of the last century, came to light for the first time through the Gulf 1, which was held in the Bahraini capital Manama in 1970 with the participation of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

Stadium: Isa Town International Stadium.
Period: 27 March – 3 April 1970.
Matches: 6 matches.
Number of goals: 19.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Kuwaiti Jawad Khalaf and Mohammed Al Masoud (3 goals).
Player of the tournament: Khalid Blan.
Best goalkeeper: Saudi Ahmed Eid.

Kuwait was led by Egyptian coach Taha Al-Toukhi, Hamada Al-Sharqawi, Mohammed Hassan Khairi (Sudanese) and George Sikiro (English).

The tournament was held on a one-round basis and the first matches of the tournament brought together Bahrain and Qatar. Ahmed Salmeen scored the first goal for Bahrain after 14 minutes, to be the first player to score a goal in the history of the tournament.

Kuwait came first in the tournament after three victories vs Saudi Arabia (3-1), Qatar (4-2) and Bahrain (3-1), while Bahrain got the second place with a victory over Qatar (2-1) and a draw with Saudi Arabia who achieved another draw with Qatar to occupy third place, and Qatar came fourth with a single point.

Gulf 2 – The Gulf dream grows

After the success of the first Arabian Gulf Cup in Bahrain in 1970, the main concern was to continue the tournament in a manner that ensures its continuity and competitiveness among the brothers.The Gulf dream grew in the second championship held in the Saudi capital Riyadh in 1972 after the participation of UAE for the first time.

Stadium: Malaz Stadium in Riyadh.
Period: 15-28 March 1972.
Matches: 6 matches.
Goals: 25 goals.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Saudi Saeed Ghorab (5 goals).
Player of the tournament: Kuwaiti Farouk Ibrahim.
Best goalkeeper: Saudi Ahmed Eid.

The excitement and intense competition characterized the first Gulf championship, which continued in the second championship to the extent that the Bahraini team withdrew from its last match vs Saudi Arabia because of arbitration issues and canceled all its results.
Kuwait was led by Yugoslavia Ljubica Brocic, while Taha Ismail led Saudi Arabia, and his compatriot Mohamed Shehta coached UAE, while Mohammed Hassan Khair continued his mission with Qatar.
The tournament was held on a one-round basis, with Kuwait winning (5-0) against Qatar and (7-0) vs UAE, to accumulate 5 points (the same as Saudi Arabia), but the goals score for Kuwait were more, which helped them achieve their second title.

Gulf 3 – The march continues

After the withdrawal of Bahrain in the final meters of the second edition, some doubted its continuity. However, Bahrain returned smiling and Oman joined for the first time in the tournament held at the stadium of Kuwait Club in 1974.

Stadium: Kuwait Club Stadium.
Period: 15-29 March 1974.
Matches: 10 matches.
Goals: 40 goals.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Kuwaiti Jassim Yacoub (6 goals).
Player of the tournament: Qatari Mohamed Ghanem.
Best goalkeeper: Kuwaiti Ahmed Trabelsi.

Kuwait kept Yugoslavia Lupisa Prostech as the coach, UAE with Egyptian Mohamed Shehta as the head of the technical department. The other four teams selected Egyptian coaches: Hamada Al Sharqawi with Bahrain, Helmi Mahmoud with Qatar, Mamdouh Khafaji with Oman and Mohammed Abdo Al Wahsh with Saudi Arabia.

The tournament was held for the first time on the basis of two groups, where the first group included: Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the second one had: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Kuwait and Qatar qualified with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for the semi-finals.

As expected, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reached the final, with Kuwait achieving its third consecutive title after scoring four times in the final.
Kuwait’s attack scored 18 goals in the tournament in five games and received no goal.

Gulf 4 – New guest arrives

The Gulf Cup landed for the first time in Qatar, which hosted the fourth tournament from 25 March to 15 April 1976. This tournament was exceptional and historic with the arrival of the Iraqi team. This participation added a fierce competition but did not end the Kuwaiti strike.

Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium.
Period: 25 March – 15 April 1976.
Matches: 22 games.
Goals: 84 goals.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Kuwaiti Jassim Yacoub (9 goals).
Player of the tournament: Iraqi Ali Kazem.
Best goalkeeper: Bahraini Hammoud Sultan.

The tournament was held on a one-round basis. Kuwait equaled Iraq with the same number of points (10 points), and they also tied in the championship (2-2).
The tournament needed a playoff between Kuwait and Iraq which was won by Kuwait (4-2), to add a fourth star in the Gulf Championships.

Gulf 5 – Gulf Cup in Iraq

After Iraq participated for the first time in the fourth edition held in Qatar 1976, it was its turn this time to host and honor the Gulf teams in the championship which was played from 23 March to 8 April 1979.
This time Iraq said its word.

Stadium: People’s International Stadium.
Period: 23 March – 8 April 1979.
Matches: 21 matches.
Goals: 70 goals.
Winner: Iraq.
Top scorer: Iraqi Hussein Saeed (10 goals).
Player of the tournament: Iraqi Hadi Ahmed.
Best goalkeeper: Iraqi Raad Hamoudi.

As in the previous tournament, it was also held with the system of one role, and all teams played 6 games, all held at the International Stadium in Baghdad.
Iraq said its word this time and took control of the tournament achieving 6 consecutive victories and scoring 23 goals.

Iraq was led by historical coach Amo Baba (Emmanuelle Baba Dawood), Saudi Arabia’s David Wealth, his sub-countryman led the UAE, and his fellow countryman George Smith with Oman.
Kuwait was led by Brazilian Carlos Alberto Pereira, Sudanese Hassan Osman with Qatar and Irish Jacques Mansell with Bahrain.

Gulf 6 – The Gulf meets in Abu Dhabi

In March 1982, it was the turn of the United Arab Emirates, specifically the capital Abu Dhabi, to gather the sons of the Gulf in an exciting tournament held at the stadium Zayed Sports City.
In this edition of the tournament, Iraq recorded the second withdrawal in the history of Gulf tournaments.

Stadium: Zayed Sports City Stadium.
Period: 19 March – 4 April 1982.
Matches: 15 games.
Goals: 38 goals.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Saudi Majed Abdullah, Bahraini Ibrahim Zuwaid, UAE Salem Khalifa and Kuwaiti Yousef Suweid (3 goals).
Player of the tournament: –
Best goalkeeper: Saeed Salbukh.

Kuwait recaptured the Gulf pride in this tournament to score the fifth star and overcome the stumbling in Baghdad.
Kuwait won the title after the victories over Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and a defeat from Qatar.

Gulf 7 – Muscat reunites the Gulf

In March 1984, it was the turn of the Omani capital Muscat to be the new host of the Gulf Championship. All games were held at the Police Stadium in Al Wattayah, and this competition witnessed a feverish competition to be one of the strongest tournaments in the history of the Gulf tournaments.

Stadium: Police Stadium.
Period: 9-28 March 1984.
Matches: 22 games.
Goals: 51 goals.
Winner: Iraq.
Top scorer: Iraqi Hussein Saeed (7 goals).
Player of the tournament: Iraqi Hussein Saeed and Omani Ghulam Khamis.
Best goalkeeper: Iraqi Fattah Nassif.

In this tournament Kuwait was disappointed with only one win, two draws and suffered three losses, but the competition was the most intense between Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.
In the last round, Iraq and Qatar equaled with 9 points.
The two teams needed a playoff which ended with another tie after Adnan Dergal scored for Iraq, and Mansour for Qatar. It was then determined with penalties which announced Iraq as the winner, after the brilliant performance from goalkeeper Fattah Nassif.

Gulf 8 – The championship is back to its first days

Sixteen years after its birth in Manama, the Gulf Championship has returned to Bahrain.
This time with the participation of seven teams, where the tournament was held in a one-round league at the Bahrain National Stadium.

Stadium: Bahrain National Stadium.
Period: 22 March – 7 April 1986.
Matches: 21 matches.
Goals: 35 goals.
Winner: Kuwait.
Top scorer: Emirati Fahad Khamis (6 goals).
Player of the tournament: Kuwaiti Moayad Al Haddad.
Best goalkeeper: Bahraini Mohammed Saleh.

After a disappointing appearance in Muscat two years ago, the Kuwaiti Blue returned with full strength in the Gulf 8 in Bahrain.
They managed to achieve 5 victories over Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Qatar and Iraq, and a draw against the host, scoring 11 goals.